We use cookies to ensure we give you the best experience on our website. You can find out about our cookies and how to disable cookies in our Privacy Policy. If you continue to use this website without disabling cookies, we will assume you are happy to receive them. Close.

How should we understand watermanagement in our age when humanity itself is now a powerful force on the Earth’s geology and ecosystems (aka ‘the Anthropocene era’)? Do we understand the most critical factors in building a resilient water infrastructure? What technologies do civil engineers need to use?

Four ahead-of-print articles about water engineering help us answer these important questions.

In 'Sustainable water management in the Anthropocene', Muller (2015) argues that the scale of the demands now being placed on the global water resource will inevitably change the aquatic environment, and that watermanagement paradigms therefore need to change.

In hydro-supportive approaches, the aim is to manage water systems to 'contribute to a more sustainable organisation of human society and its activities', including new equilibria, based on 'a careful and unsentimental reflection about the nature of Nature'. Muller concludes with five cases studies in South Africa show the benefits of a hydro-supportive approach.

Predicting the impact of climate change on water resources is important to help us better for the future. However, this type of modelling is challenging and different methods can produce very different results. In 'Water resource vulnerability: simulation and optimisation models', Hoang and Desai (2016) compare the results of a simulation model and an optimisation model, using Sussex (south-east England) as a case studyarea.

Despite some differences in results, both methods showed a gradual increasing risk of supply deficit in the 2020s and 2030s. Avoiding frequent supplyfailures in the 2050s required a reduction in demand. The results suggested that demand reduction would occur under only two of four possible socio-economic scenarios: 'sustainability-led governance' or 'socially responsible consumerism', while the 'business-as-usual' scenario was found to cause future waterfailurerisks.

[edit] Drier summers in eastern England will have a significant impact on agriculture

In order to provide the most effective infrastructure we need to understand the largest sources of water deficit: evaporation.

In 'The threat of drier summers to agriculture and the environment in eastern England', Evans draws attention to a number of frequently overlooked issues:

Increasing global food prices will make it more likely that at least some water irrigation in the UK can be provided economically.

Relying on historic irrigation data will underestimate the impact of climate change and future irrigation need.

Evans evaluates a broad range of adaptation options, finding the provision of large reservoirs to be the most important at delivering sufficient water during the growing season. Unfortunately, current debates about water demand management are inappropriately focused on ineffective responses such as abstraction licenses, demand management and farm reservoirs.

They describe pilot projects using 'smart pumps' in several African countries. The use of SMS messaging can enable faults to be reported to maintenanceteams earlier and more often. If pump repairteams for remote regions exist, smart pumps can help maintain universal access to clean drinking water.

A number of obstacles still need to be addressed. Power supplies and mobile network coverage may not be reliable; smart pumps also need to be affordable, secure and acceptable to users. Most importantly, however, data from smart pumps offer some promising new opportunities.